Pre-Season Friendlies

[Brian Taylor]

Nantes area top-flight French outfit. They didn't want to lose that game. Congrats Villa. Looking forward to a winning season with new blood and management. Come on d'Villa!

[aj2k77]

Oh hold on let me check again....yes we are in the Championship.

I'd be expecting us to be more than just competitive in a shit division like that.

[Clampy]

Oh hold on let me check again....yes we are in the Championship.

I'd be expecting us to be more than just competitive in a shit division like that.

What on earth are you wobbling on about?

[aj2k77]

Oh hold on let me check again....yes we are in the Championship.

I'd be expecting us to be more than just competitive in a shit division like that.

What on earth are you wobbling on about?

Not worth the effort, you've got your head in the sand again.

[SoccerHQ]

Big problem for me was style of play.

It was exactly the same as last few seasons which has been a roaring success. Hutton as our ring wing creator and Westwood, Gana, Bacuna contributing the "creativity" from midfield.

I know we're a lower level but hand on heart this squad is miles away from winning 25 games next season and winning promotion.

Another problem is players we want to see like Grealish, Adama and Amavi who can freshen up the side and add some unpredictability at least to attacks have hardly been seen in pre season for one reason or another so I don't see two of them starting in Sheffield.

[SoccerHQ]

How many did we lose by?

I think that's a good point - what happened to the win despite not playing well attitude ?

We won games last pre season didn't we? And the seasons before under Lambert?

Main thing in pre season for me is get a good style of play going...e.g. establishing a connection between midfield and strikers that means chances are regularly created.

None of that yesterday, 1 shot on target wasn't it which is very poor considering Nantes aren't at peak fitness levels themselves and probably didn't have their full team out.

[SoccerHQ]

i never pay a lot of attention to friendlies however when i see largely the same team doing (or not doing)  the same things as last season then i start to worry

hoping to see a cm and a forward in this week

Last season we'd have lost this game with two late goals. There seemed to be a lot more defensive cohesion even if the forward play needs some work. Then again, that's what preseason is for - working out your strengths and weaknesses. If we had won all our friendlies 3-0, you'd still be moaning we hadn't played anyone of any standard. Remember, we won't be playing Manchester, Chelsea and Spurs next season and I doubt the likes of Bristol and Burton carry the same threat.

Watching the game last night actually reminded me of Bournemouth away on the first day, under pressure for long spells before a Gestede winner from a set piece nicked the win.

I naively thought we'd get better from that point but all the problems in the side were brutally exposed over 38 games, same will happen here unless new signings freshen things up.

[Tayls_7]

Nobody knows how we will fair this season but if you were seeking encouragement from yesterday's performance you wouldn't have found it.

[Nastylee]

i never pay a lot of attention to friendlies however when i see largely the same team doing (or not doing)  the same things as last season then i start to worry

hoping to see a cm and a forward in this week

Last season we'd have lost this game with two late goals. There seemed to be a lot more defensive cohesion even if the forward play needs some work. Then again, that's what preseason is for - working out your strengths and weaknesses. If we had won all our friendlies 3-0, you'd still be moaning we hadn't played anyone of any standard. Remember, we won't be playing Manchester, Chelsea and Spurs next season and I doubt the likes of Bristol and Burton carry the same threat.

you miss the point entirely

pre season results mean nothing either way but we are still playing the same midfield, sideways sideways tippy tappy, still lacking a cutting edge, still fucking up throw ins

the next two games i would like to see our first 11 start

and yes burton and bristol city will be no great shakes but newcastle, norwich, derby, sheff wed possibly wolves with new owners wont

So preseason means nothing but you're going to use the games to justify your opinion anyway?

[Matt Collins]

I see Swansea put 5 past Bristol rovers yday

Can't read too much into pre season. But equally given our appalling form for 12 months it would be nice to see some signs of improvement too

The team he picked isn't geared up for creative football tho. I wonder if he'll aim to be solid to begin with. Then blood the kids slowly and hopefully continue to bring in some new players

[Clampy]

Oh hold on let me check again....yes we are in the Championship.

I'd be expecting us to be more than just competitive in a shit division like that.

What on earth are you wobbling on about?

Not worth the effort, you've got your head in the sand again.

I haven't got my head in the sand at all. I'm just wondering what you mean by 'more than competitive'. You said it, it's not a hard question.

[Clampy]

I see Swansea put 5 past Bristol rovers yday

Can't read too much into pre season. But equally given our appalling form for 12 months it would be nice to see some signs of improvement too

The team he picked isn't geared up for creative football tho. I wonder if he'll aim to be solid to begin with. Then blood the kids slowly and hopefully continue to bring in some new players

Mind you, Swansea haven't just got relegated and won only 3 of their last 39 league games. It's going to take a while to build the confidence back up.

[Toronto Villa]

The thing is we were so diabolical last season, it's possibly going to take time to repair the damage and for RDM to get his idea's across. I didn't expect us to play free flowing football 4 games into his reign and we might even have a slow start to the season. The most important thing is that we rebuild the team spirit, which according to Spink is what played a massive part in getting us back up last time.

And we'd have bitten hands off last year for a few "didn't play well scrappy 1-0 wins". There's actually a team in blue in the eastern part of the Midlands that took full advantage of that approach.

We won't always play well, but when we don't can we still stay compact enough to grab a point or a win. All too often in the past few years when we didn't play well we didn't just lose by the odd goal. We got utterly battered. So as much as yesterday wasn't great, we won, and that builds a bit more togetherness and belief in the squad.

[SoccerHQ]

The thing is we were so diabolical last season, it's possibly going to take time to repair the damage and for RDM to get his idea's across. I didn't expect us to play free flowing football 4 games into his reign and we might even have a slow start to the season. The most important thing is that we rebuild the team spirit, which according to Spink is what played a massive part in getting us back up last time.

And we'd have bitten hands off last year for a few "didn't play well scrappy 1-0 wins". There's actually a team in blue in the eastern part of the Midlands that took full advantage of that approach.

We won't always play well, but when we don't can we still stay compact enough to grab a point or a win. All too often in the past few years when we didn't play well we didn't just lose by the odd goal. We got utterly battered. So as much as yesterday wasn't great, we won, and that builds a bit more togetherness and belief in the squad.

We had a near identical one on the first day of last season which should've set the tone for the season but instead the major weaknesses in the squad were exposed brutally over the next 37 games.

I worry the same is going to happen here. Teams with likes of Bacuna, Westwood, Hutton, Cissokho, Gestede in it simply don't win many games during a season.

[Toronto Villa]

Soccer, a few things:

1) manager isn't Tim Sherwood who tactically was inept. Randy isn't owner. Fox isn't Chief Exec.
2) we're not in the PL
3) division in the squad isn't there as it was under Tim who was quick to blame others when it went wrong. That created a divide we never recovered from
4) we won't have the group of players this season and even if we do keep some they will be better suited to the lower standard

I'm sure there are loads of other reasons why it won't be the same as last season